Aurora borealis isn't just very fun to say aloud—it's absolutely beautiful to watch. But where does it come from? The whim of the gods? No, silly Ancient Roman—the sun's plasma discharges are responsible. This video breaks it down.

The sun is a giant crock pot of magnetic fields and incredible heat. The two collude and send giant belches of plasma shooting outward toward our little rock. When the magnetically charged package hits our planet's atmosphere, the plasma is siphoned downward to our skies, where we see pretty swirling lights, and not a violent cosmic grappling match. [via BuzzFeed]